The Brexit Cupboard-share your tips

[SistemaAddict]

We are now past the original brexit date and looking at halloween with the appropriate horror.
Those of us that gathered a buffer/stockpile/stash of food and household items or anything else is there anything that prepping has taught you? Foods that are better than others to gather? Foods that are great in recipes and add extra nutrients? Household items that you've appreciated having a supply of for times of illness, bad weather or lack of funds?


My own tips are as follows:

•Long life milk (Moo skimmed and semi skimmed are the ones I've tried along with Tesco's own label) are great in tea, hot chocolate and for making bechamel sauce


•Macaroni cheese is the ultimate brexit comfort food dish. Throw in some frozen chopped spinach to make it more nutritious or finely chopped broccoli if you like it (I don't). For further tastiness add passata, chilli, and anything else you fancy. Sure, it's no longer technically macaroni cheese but you have a quick and easy nutritious dish.

• grate and freeze cheese for ease of use in dishes like the above

• butter is suitable for freezing and the freezing process does not alter appearance or taste

• frozen courgettes and peppers can be roasted and added to homemade tomato based pasta sauce

• tofu is suitable for freezing

• always keep a loaf in the freezer

• cereal lasts 2 days in our house so we need to buy much more than originally thought

• tinned rhubarb makes a great crumble and is cheaper than fresh

• make use of supermarket offers on non-fresh or household items such as detergent and cotton wool and toiletries

• stock up on nappies if you have a child in them-they are made in Belgium I believe

• oats are cheap and great for breakfast, cookies and flapjacks

• Paul Hollywood's bloomer recipe is a good basic recipe and makes a very tasty loaf. I added poppy seeds to the top

• stock up on anti freeze as we'll be going into winter

• tinned potatoes work great in some recipes

• multi vitamins will help make up for any deficit of fresh fruit and veg

• there's no such thing as too many toilet rolls

• the library frozen food system is an excellent use of space

• tinned mushy peas are delicious

• tinned mushrooms are fine in pasta bake

• garlic paste is a store cupboard essential as is chilli purée

• cereal usually contains added vitamins so is great for children, the elderly or anyone with a chronic condition that might be in need of the extra

I'm sure there's lots of others too.

Credit goes to @bellinisurge for her calm and excellent posts on this subject and encouraging posters to get what they can afford, can store, and will use.

[bellinisurge]

@flouncyfanny , I can shred it with my Wetherspoons News that was sent to us a month or two ago. Emergency cat litter - my dad used to do this (poor cat).

[magimedi]

Spices, wooster sauce, mustard & mustard powder, soy sauce. All things that can make otherwise fairly bland food (pulses etc) much tastier.

[Socksontheradiator]

I learnt a lot from the March false start. I like the library system for putting stews and soup in the freezer.
I bought tin can cook by jack monroe and I can now make a decent meal from store cupboard food so it's not all about starvation rations.
It prompted me to really get on board with reusable sanpro. I have bought some spare in case of family emergency (ie the once who think all this is a load of bollocks)
I am utilising our vet's new policy of ordering pet meds online so building a wee stash there.
Just musing and no doubt will be back with more

[Socksontheradiator]

@areyoukiddingme we have the same prob re meds here. We have stocked up on otc meds but DH is on amlodipine and warfarin and yes, we're worried about supplies.

[CapybarasLoveCake]

Place marking. I’m still getting through my lentil back log from the false start earlier in the year! And the dog is on her last bag of the extra dog food I bought in preparation.

Still, it’s good to have an idea of the rate we get through stuff.

[rosieposey]

Place marking for ideas thanks!

[PullingMySocksUp]

Re prescription medication, we’ve just been requesting it a bit early each time, ie for week seven for a prescription that’s meant to be every eight weeks.

[wherearemychickens]

What's the frozen food library system please? We bought a small chest freezer for March, and we really need a better way of organising it other than just throwing everything in it.

[bellinisurge]

It's (I think) where you store meals in freezer bags but make the bag as flat as you can. You then have thinner bags that you can pile on top of each other or line up like books.
I think you would Need to check the quality and integrity of your bags and perhaps put something like baking paper between the bags.
Some freezers have ridges on the bottom of a section (say, the Fast Freeze bit ) to allow you to do this more easily.

[Socksontheradiator]

Yes, @wherearemychickens, that's exactly it. It take some practice to get equal size packs but it does increase the amount that can be squeezed in to the freezer.

[wherearemychickens]

Ah, thank you - not sure that will work with the kind of stuff we are putting in the freezer unfortunately!

[bellinisurge]

Another tip is micro greens. Just sprouting some seeds on a window ledge and eating them as salads bits in the winter.
If you already have eg chard seeds or similar that you didn't use this year you can use them.
Extra bit of vitamins.

[AwdBovril]

I freeze some of my leftovers in blocks - in a plastic bag, which is placed inside a square plastic container. Once frozen, I take it out of the box. They are stackable (more or less, allowing for uneven top surfaces).

[BlackeyedGruesome]

Bumping for the new names on other threads.

[BlackeyedGruesome]

Tip: buy your most urgent/ frequently used/favourite things first and then move on from there.

Don't panic if you read that someone has 100 loo rolls and you have only got an extra 4. It does not matter. Start with three days or so of stuff, build up to a week, then two later.

Do what you can when you can with the resources you have available to you to fit in your budget, space and tastes. Anything is better than nothing.

Good luck.

[Mamitab]

I have been living in the UK for the last 10 years but I think I am missing something- I know Brexit is probably going damage UK’s economy- But why are you stockpiling that much? I am actually glad I found this thread as I will consider doing so. Will there be a food shortage? Please excuse my ignorance. How many days worth of food and essentials should I buy?

[bellinisurge]

@Mamitab , our supermarkets rely on "just in time " for supply and distribution of food. The slightest wobble anywhere along that chain - think of impact of heavy snow - and stuff doesn't get to supermarkets. And think what unpleasant places supermarkets are in those circumstances.
Only two weeks ago, there was a thread on here whining about a supermarket running out of ice lollies in the heatwave.
I'm a general prepper and recommend 3 days of stuff from breakfast to evening meals including hygiene stuff, snacks and treats, pet food (if you have pets) - what works for you. Over the counter cold remedies for example because we are heading into cold season. Stuff you would actually eat. That's affordable at a steady pace from now and doable for most in terms of storage. Do more if you can but don't do less. 3 days will keep you away from shops while you suss out how your local area is. Without needing to pop to the shops for toothpaste or calpol or milk.

[mamapants]

I have started my store cupboard today.
Ordered extra beans, chopped tomatoes, tuna, 5kilo bag of rice, cous cous, pasta, lemon juice, washing powder and dog food. Made my shopping quite expensive and will need to squirrel it away. Going to spread it out over the next couple of months an extra 5-10 items a week.
Am getting worried about how much everything will cost once everything has settled down.

[BlackeyedGruesome]

Bump for poster who wanted the list

[CrunchyCarrot]

So I tried freezing Babybel cheese (the little round ones in wax). It worked, on defrosting it's perfect. This is great news for me as it's the only cheese I can currently eat apart from cottage cheese.

[MeDownSouth]

Delurking to say if you're worried about vitamins and minerals look at getting some blackstrap molasses. The taste is... acquired, but it's full of iron, calcium, magnesium etc. The easiest way to use it is to stir a spoonful into hot milk (I add some brown sugar).
We also use nutritional yeast for B vitamins (esp. B12), protein, calcium and iron. Use it like you would parmesan cheese and sprinkle it on everything! Can also make a good dairy free cheese sauce. Just make sure you get nutritional yeast not brewers or bakers :)

[BlackeyedGruesome]

I need envelopes and stamps.